In the blame game of early onset puberty in girls, many fingers have pointed to growth hormones in milk as the culprit. The myth really got going when recombinant bovine somatotropin was approved for commercial use in 1994.
Now, a study published in the Frontiers in Endocrinology may set the record straight. The guilty party? Childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity has already been connected to numerous healthy issues in youth, including glucose intolerance, hypertension and high cholesterol. These metabolic conditions could impact the reproductive system, as well.
“The issue of so many humans being obese is very recent in evolutionary terms, and since nutritional status is important to reproduction, metabolic syndromes caused by obesity may profoundly affect reproductive capacity,” Patrick Chappell, an assistant professor of veterinary medicine at Oregon State University and an author of the recent report, says in a news release.
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Source: Dairy Herd Management